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54
in the summer of 1884, when small-pox was rife in the
Metropolis, patients were admitted upon the application not
only of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors, but
also upon the application of private medical practitioners; and
this not merely without a previous "order" by a relieving
officer, but also, in many instances, without such order even
following; the admission of the cases being simply notified to
the several Poor Law Authorities by the Clerk to the Board.
In October of the same year (1884), however, the Managers
decided to exercise the powers of the Act, and placed themselves
in communication with the several Sanitary Authorities.
The proposal was that the Vestries, &c., should enter into contracts
with the Managers for the admission of “non-pauper"
patients, upon the "order" of Medical Officers of Health, and
a form of agreement was subsequently forwarded, the Local
Government Board having previously given its required sanction
to the proposal.
In a report by the Committee for General Purposes, the
result of the negotiations with the several Vestries, &c., was set
out, showing that 36 out of 39 had replied: 14 were willing to
enter into the proposed agreement; 15 for one reason or another
declined; 7 sent replies which were of an ambiguous or argumentative
character, and 4 gave no definite replies. The
Managers thereupon adopted the recommendation of the Committee
to send a synopsis of the replies to the Local Government
Board, with an intimation that, "as it is optional with the
Vestries, &c., whether they will avail themselves of the powers
conferred by section 15 of the Poor Law Act, 1879, the
Managers do not see how they can take any further action in
the matter unless and until the Local Government Board shall
see fit to obtain from Parliament such additional powers as will
render compulsory instead of optional the conditions of the
section in question."
Your Vestry was among the dissentient authorities on
grounds set out in my Annual Report for 1884 (pp. 101—117